The new Rocket Bunny S14

[willimo]

ZoomZoom - He could just put a hemi in it, apparently Miura-san wants to do that with his 1:1, though he put out the first car with an SR20. That way your friend could just make it with what he knows...

I wanted to get this done before a 1:1 got built, but I already missed that. Damn. So, now I'm trying to get it done before the transkits come out... as far as I know I'm still good. Next time you see a post, this will be done, so it's getting there. Mine is more and more inspired-by than replica because A. I didn't know the 1:1 would be so close to the rendering, B. There are some things I would change and C. I'm not that good at body work. Anyway, here's progress:

I started working on the grill.





Oh, that sucks. Start over...





Better. I made it from some sheet styrene cut to size and shape, bent in the middle to give it dimension, a little more strip and rod behind it to give it structure, and some styrene rod for the trim around the cutouts. I used some Tamiya putty to fillet the relief. What's that in the middle? Well I really wanted to use the S badge from the Silvia kit, I wanted to keep it Japanese even with all the American muscle influence.





Like that.

I went and masked off the window trims, sprayed them, and broke the A-pillar taking the tape off. Damnit! I was being extra careful, too, since I had broken the A-pillar twice already. I will just use a little paint on a brush to fix it when the rest of the car is done.



I glued the body to the chassis... it was a tight fit, the roll cage interfered with the glass a little, and I had to cut a LOT of glass away to make it almost fit. I like the way it turned out, though, because the roll cage tucks in a little instead of sitting inside glass and looking a little undersized.



And I glued the wheels and suspension on. These pictures were pre-suspension, but it looks like this right now (minus the wonky left rear wheel). You can see the intercooler, the radiator, and the radiator support which I just made from some styrene strip that I drilled holes in and sanded all the sharp corners from. I realized that it's a little to far back behind the grill, but... not changing it now.





I still have a lot of details to do. Headlights, PE Nissan logo, mirror, wipers, and I have to build the diffuser which I am not too excited about, and the exhaust which I am going to run through the diffuser for style points.

Thanks for looking! Comments, criticisms welcome!!

[GTRfan01]

you've done an awesome job here, well done.
this is something i really want to do.
thanks for sharing.

[Wolf95]

Looks PHENOMENAL!! I'm actually quite fond of the 1:1 build (All my friends hate it. :P)

But I had a quick question, how do you cut your styrene and the holes in the front bumper? You say you're not good at body work but it looks fantastic. I need to get into scratchbuilding but a razor blade and a scribe tool can only go so far...

Thanks for any tips!!

[willimo]

I use a variety of tools to cut styrene, and sometimes I try to avoid cutting at all. The lower opening of the front valance, for example, was never filled in. I built the two sides and then just put a piece of styrene across the bottom.

Thin styrene is easy to cut with a hobby knife, and an old trick I learned long ago is the scribe-scribe-snap technique. You just make a couple passes with the blade, or if it's thick, a couple more with the reverse edge of the blade, until the cut is deep enough that you can just snap the plastic apart. This will leave a jagged edge on thick plastic, so I always cut oversize and file down. I also use my sprue nippers sometimes for thick plastic, especially strip and rod, and I also use them to make quick work of an oddly shaped cut that is concave - I will draw out my shape, nip out pie pieces with the nippers, then sand to final shape.

I also have a great tool called The Chopper from North West Short Line. They do model train stuff, but it's this handy little board with a razor blade on a hinged handle.



You can clamp some triangles down onto it, against the baseline straight edge, and cut miter cuts or (most importantly, to me) many pieces the exact same size - I used it to good effect for the vertical ribbing below the taillight.

But you asked specifically about the front valence. I actually used a Dremel to cut the slots, the two main ones in the center and the two smaller ones to the sides. At least, to rough them out. Again, I drew out what I wanted to cut, and then cut a little less with the Dremel since I don't have as much control.

The tool I use to get started is the High Speed Cutter, and it works like a champ.



I'll get the hole started, and then use small files to get the final shape. You will rarely (never) find a negative space on any of my models that you can't fit one of my files into! I find that the files are sturdy enough and come in square shapes that allow me to make nice, neat little square cuts easily. I lightly drag my hobby blade across the edge, perpendicular to the edge (like a plane over wood) to remove any sanding burrs.

I hope this helps!

[Wolf95]

That helped a lot! I have that exact bit in my dremel kit too. lol

I use the scribe/snap method. but I feel this creates a larger gap than what I imagine (as the scribe gets thicker, so does the gap).

I've seen photoetched saws but from I remember, they're pretty expensive for what they are.

Also curious what file set you have?

[willimo]

I have never gotten a set of PE saws, but always want to. I don't know why I have managed not to get any yet.... I have a basic K&S needle file set. Nothing magical.

[petesy]

Once you have tried photo etch saws it is very hard to go back. They are just so handy.

Hasagawa makes a set that is literally paper thin. Very handy for scribing work.

[liya_leacree]

excellent color!!

[white_R34]

Man its so good to see your still at it. That custom graphed parts was stunning!!!

[MidMazar]

scale motorsport makes a nice set too, they are handy. Awesome progress Will.

[iloveBJ]

damn that is crazy man,good work